Agriculture committee  Sooner or later the product has to move, so I guess in terms of our reference to rail service when it comes to the export of oil I'm just trying to articulate that there are problems, even with the commercial movement. There's still movement going out of those facilities. There is still oil being exported, but it's the opportunity that we're being held back from, from expanding that, hitting the market hard when the market is paying for it.

Agriculture committee  Yes, sure. I think I understand the question. On the issue we've looked at as growers—whether the revenue cap has any bearing on the level of service we're getting—we've come to the conclusion that it has not. We're around the table of the Coalition of Rail Shippers. They pay full-blown commercial rates.

Agriculture committee  You would think so, but in that case grain would be the last commodity to move. We wouldn't get any grain movement. We'd have oil, we'd have cars, we'd have forest products, we'd have everything else moving and no grain. But that doesn't occur, and it's all because of the common level of carrier obligations under the Canada Transportation Act, that the railways must provide suitable and adequate accommodation for all.

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much for the question. It's a great opportunity to explain that process. When a farmer wants to take an advance on the program, they come to us as one of the major administrators of the program. We offer several different ways that a farmer can apply. They can phone us and talk to a person, and in about 15 minutes the person, one of our account managers within CCGA, will take down the information over the phone.

Agriculture committee  I guess as shippers we do belong—and grain growers belong as well—to the Coalition of Rail Shippers. That is a multi-commodity and cross-industry group of shippers who have gotten together for a number of years now to discuss rail issues in a cooperative effort, to figure out what's happening to the shippers and what can the shippers do about some of the service that is coming about.

Agriculture committee  I think the stick needs to be built into the contract because right now there's a lack of accountability. There are major players in the chain, starting with the farmer and then the shipper, the grain company itself, then the railway, to the terminal, and onto the boat. That contractual chain needs to be all linked up with reciprocal penalties between each one of those parties, each link in the chain, with each one being accountable to the other, with actual penalties and repercussions for not living up to the commitments under the contract.

Agriculture committee  It is effecting canola oil movement as well. There are a couple of plants in particular that have had to cut back on crush. You'll see, if you look at the statistics, crush here to date is a little bit behind last year. There's no reason for that other than they're having difficulty, even on the tanker side.

Agriculture committee  We made at least five recommendations under Bill C-58, when the Canada Transportation Act was last open, to accommodate the service level agreement clauses. One of the key ones was to have financial accountability built into it, i.e., contractual arrangements that had financial penalties for both parties, both the shipper and the railway.

Agriculture committee  Those pieces were not put into it. The service level agreement legislation is a great framework, but we need to go back to it now, review those earlier recommendations, and revisit whether or not that would have helped the situation. I think it would have. Again, in my presentation I articulated the need for financial incentives for the railways to perform.

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon to the members of the committee. Thank you for inviting me here today to speak to you about the grain logistics system here in Canada. CCGA represents 43,000 canola growers and is governed by a board of directors who are farmers. We represent all provinces from Ontario west to B.C.

Agriculture committee  From a canola perspective, there's not a lot going out from the east coast.

Agriculture committee  I believe there's an opportunity to utilize the east better than we have, not only through the St. Lawrence Seaway but also possibly through Churchill as well. Those are a couple of possible opportunities to alleviate some of the west coast congestion that we have.

Agriculture committee  Well, it'll taper off, but if you look at the corn experience and the soybean experience, you can see where corn yields have gone over the last 20 years. They just seem to keep doubling. Given the technology that's going into canola, you're going to see something maybe not on the same scale but similar as well.

Agriculture committee  Again, it comes down to the efficient use of those assets. The port and the system are more fluid than they've ever been, but we're pressuring it big time with this big crop, so it's using every railcar they can utilize to its fullest potential, using shuttle trains out to the coast and back as quickly as possible, and getting them unloaded.

Agriculture committee  Yes. This year, in particular, is going to be a very good test for the system. If there are cracks that emerge, I think they'll become obvious. They are starting to become obvious now, and the Canadian Transportation Act, I believe, will be up for review in 2014. That'll be our next opportunity to look at any regulatory changes that might need to be done with our experience of this year under our belt.